During Friday’s Game 4 between Chicago and Minnesota in St. Paul, Minn., a television announcer said, “Matt Cooke is having a big impact in this game,” and his sidekick analyst supported the comment with some facts.

The sequence undoubtedly irritated Avalanche fans everywhere.

In his first game back since serving a seven-game suspension for kneeing Tyson Barrie on April 21, ending the Avs defenseman’s season in Game 3 of a first-round series, Cooke on Friday did indeed help the Wild beat the Blackhawks 4-2 to tie the Western Conference semifinals series 2-2. He assisted on the game’s first goal, delivered a team-high five hits, produced two shots and drew a hooking penalty on Chicago’s best defense man, Duncan Keith.

Cooke did not end someone’s season, or career, with a deliberate or careless hit and face what would have been his seventh NHL suspension, but he again irritated Avalanche fans everywhere simply by playing.

“The hit was awful, and players like Cooke cannot control themselves when beat on a play or have a player in a vulnerable position,” said University of Denver coach Jim Montgomery, who played for 14 professional teams including the NHL’s Canadiens, Flyers, Sharks and Stars. “That’s why they are repeat offenders, just like (former Broncos linebacker Bill) Romanowski was as a football player.

“(Raffi) Torres and (Patrick) Kaleta are just like him.”

Cooke, Torres and Kaleta are similar 200-pound forwards who have amassed more NHL playoff penalty minutes than games played, and only Torres has fewer regular-season penalty minutes (497) than games played (635). They are paid to hit every opposing puck carrier within a few strides, even if it takes them out of position to defend.

Cooke targeted Barrie in the neutral zone, and had Barrie not been hit, or hurt, Cooke would have been the only player behind the play.

“This is not a good hit. Nothing good happens when players are going in opposite directions,” said Brian Engblom, the veteran Colorado-based NBC Sports Network analyst. “It’s a bad time to go hunting for a hit. What a shame for Barrie and the Avs.”

Losing Barrie did not cost Colorado the series, but it surely played a role in how the Avs lost Game 3 and made it more difficult in wrapping up the series after winning the first two games. Cooke’s punishment did not fit the crime. He was suspended without pay for seven games, but playoff players aren’t regularly paid in the playoffs and Barrie would likely still be out if the Avs were playing today.

When Barrie suffered the strained medial collateral ligament in his left knee, Avs coach Patrick Roy immediately said his savvy third-year puck mover would miss the standard four to six weeks. Two days after the hit, April 23, Cooke was assessed his seven-game suspension.

The NHL should not take Roy’s word for how long Ba+rrie would be out, but a third-party doctor should assess the injury and NHL Player Safety should issue the suspension partly based on that.

Avalanche fans surely hope the Wild gets eliminated quickly. The Burgundy and Blue brigade has good reason to be big Blackhawks fans right now, because the sooner Chicago can eliminate Minnesota, the sooner they can stop hearing how Cooke is playing such a big role for the Wild.